Mumbai: The Events and Activations industry has grown at 16% in FY2016-17 and is expected cross INR 10,000 crore by FY2020-21 according to EY – EEMA (Event and Entertainment Management Association) report titled ‘#Experience Next’. The key insights in the report suggests that average number of events are increasing across all formats, Government spending is expected to grow at 14% and sports is expected to grow at 18% over the next 5 years, wherein India attributes to 1% if the global sports market.

Ashish Pherwani

Ashish Pherwani, Partner and Media & Entertainment Advisory Leader, EY India says, “The Events & Activation industry is growing at a fast pace and is expected to further grow exponentially due to its ability to adapt and grow with innovative technology. With focus on newer avenues such as sports leagues, rural expansion, digital activations, increased Government marketing initiatives etc., we see events industry surpassing overall growth rate of M&E industry.”

Sabbas Joseph

Sabbas Joseph, President, Event and Entertainment Management Association says,“Event management has now transformed into experience creation with amalgamation of technology, innovative ideas and creative content. The Indian economy has undergone a lot of changes in the recent past and the Events and Activation industry has come out unscathed. This demonstrates the industry’s strength and ability to get things done under any circumstances.”

According to the report which is based on a survey of 64 event management companies and 31 marketers, overall the events and activations industry is expected to grow from INR 5,631 cr in 2016-17 to INR 10,000+cr in 2020-21. The organized events industry is growing faster than the 11% – 13% CAGR of the Indian M&E industry. The key growth drivers for the same are digital activation, sports leagues, rural expansion and government initiatives followed by IPs, personal events, product launches, expansion of mini-metros and BTL spends.

Snapshot of the findings from the report on the current scenario:

Managed events is still the largest segment, with around90% of respondents providing these events

Average IPs and activations per respondent havedoubled since 2013-14, while average digital events perrespondent have shown a 9x growth since 2013-14

There is a fall in proportionate revenue generated by activations from 31% in 2015 to 22% in 2017, showing that there is a distinct move to digital activations

More respondents are providing services internationally – up sharply from 8% in 2011 to 56% in 2017

Around 75% of all respondents’ clients were corporates

Technology, FMCG, auto, media and entertainment andtelecom are the largest users of the Events & Activations industry

An average of 26% of the total employees of the respondents consist of women employees

Snapshot of the findings from the report on opportunities for the industry:

Digital is driving growth, as respondents felt that marketers spends on digital events would grow at 20% over the next two years

Most respondents felt that sports would significantly grow at 18%

Most respondents expected ticketed events to witness a moderate level of growth in the next 2-3 years

95%of the survey respondents agreed that rural events and activations would gain increased importance over next2-3 years

Over 85% of respondents plan to launch new products or properties in the next two years, and almost a fifth of respondents will launch 3 or more products

73% of marketers expected their BTL spends to grow during the next two years, with 43% expecting growth to be over 10% per annum

Digital integration was either important or very important for the events of 90% of marketers